Worse, I did. He was talking about the termination of everything we had been together, but if Fade thought we could just go back to being hunting partners, like we had been down below, before I understood anything about feelings or the way he held my heart in his hands without touching me, then he was purely mistaken. I clenched my teeth against an angry spate of words. Though Tegan had counseled patience, sometimes it was hard.
He went on in a quietly aching tone, “So it doesn’t matter what you did to get me back. By then, it was already too late.”
“It’s not,” I said. “I won’t let it be. But you deserve absolute honesty. What happened with Stalker wasn’t something I asked for, but I’d do anything for you, and that’s a fact.”
“Some things,” he whispered, “you just shouldn’t.”
I didn’t ask if he meant his rescue or the deal with Stalker that involved kissing. I couldn’t resist pushing, just a little. “So it won’t bother you if I find someone else?”
His jaw clenched, and I saw the muscle move before he got it under control. “I thought you said you’d fight for me.”
“And you said it’s too late.” I offered him a faint smile along with his watch. “So it’s a good thing I don’t intend to listen to you.”
The soft sigh puffed out of him in relief before he could stop it. That was all the confirmation I needed. At least in this regard, I couldn’t take Fade’s word at face value. His mouth was saying things his heart didn’t mean, out of pain and darker feelings that would probably cut me in two. At last I followed Tegan’s advice about not pushing him too far, and I shifted back to my bedroll without further conversation. I didn’t turn my back when I drifted off to sleep, either. Let him look at me, if he wants to. In fact, I hoped he did, and that he felt one fraction of what I did. It might bring him back to me sooner. Just as in this desperate quest, I was running blind and hoping that the journey ended with Fade beside me.
When next I woke, the world was a blur of snarls and yellow fangs.
Combat
By the angle of the sun as I rolled to my feet, it wasn’t quite noon, but the Freaks had found us. There were nine monsters, strong and well fed, so this wouldn’t be as easy as it had been before. Good thing my companions were all awake and preparing for a fight.
Stalker snapped at Tegan, “Get behind me.”
My blades slipped into my palms and I lunged at the four encircling Fade. I caught the first off guard with a slash to the torso, opening a gash in its hide. I noticed these lacked the festering sores of other Freaks I’d encountered. Their skin was sleek but tough, if mottled, gray. The stained fangs were the same, however, as were the razor-taloned hands slicing toward me. I spun to the side, ending the maneuver with a dual downward strike. My left knife nicked the creature’s arm, but neither wound was fatal. Bleeding and furious, the thing snarled at me, a challenge in its strangely human eyes. The irises were crystal clear, a stunning amber-yellow, with the sclera white by comparison. I had the unmistakable sense it saw me as a thinking person, not just meat, and yet it still meant to kill me. The realization stunned me, but not enough to keep me from dodging the next hit as another wheeled to face me.
Stalker dropped one of his with an efficient spike into the throat, leaving three. Fade had the next kill, gutting the Freak on the right from chest to groin. Entrails tumbled out in a meaty splatter, staining the grass at our feet. Another keened in grief—that awful, discordant cry that affirmed that the Freaks felt, that they suffered loss—and it went at Fade with a ferocity I found astonishing. It was furious, not just hungry. These behaved so differently from the mindless ones we’d fought down below.
I swiveled beneath the slashing claws and sank both my blades into the Freak’s abdomen, then I pulled the knives sideways with all my strength. That was a killshot. The monster went down as the next one lunged at me. I blocked the strike, but took a rake of claws across my forearm in doing so; this Freak was strong, enough that I felt the impact down in my bones. I had to learn a new way to fight them since they didn’t die as fast anymore. This was actual combat, not the havoc I once wreaked. Fade cried out as one of them sank claws into his shoulder and used the hold to reel him forward for a fatal bite. To my surprise, Tegan brought up my rifle from where she stood in the trees. I was none too sure of her aim, but the shot boomed out, opening the monster’s chest and dropping the one who had Fade. I lifted my chin at her in thanks, then I whirled into motion, my strikes faster, faster.
Tegan shot another as I finished my second. Then I moved to help Stalker, who had two left on him. I stabbed one low in the spine, paralyzing it, then Stalker’s lightning slashes finished the creature. I worked with him to bring down the last as Fade dropped another.
Finally, we had nine corpses and a bloody stink, while Tegan trembled, cradling the rifle to her chest. “I did it. I was afraid I’d shoot Fade but nobody else was close enough.”
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“They’re different,” Tegan said, staring down at the bodies. “Not just in physical appearance but in their habits, too. Did you notice they’re not wearing rags anymore? These Muties actually made clothes.”
She was right. They had poorly tanned skins fashioned into rough armor. But their oddities didn’t change our mission.
“We have to move,” I said. “Pack your gear. The rifle can be heard a long way off in open country, so I hope you all got enough rest. You’ll need it. We’ll tend wounds later.”
In minutes, we had our blankets rolled and stowed in our packs. I handed around some bread for us to chew on the move, then I checked the maps and our route. Stalker helped me orient to the path and we set out at a run while I wondered how long it would take for more Freaks to track the rifle shots. I didn’t doubt we could hold our own against most scouting parties, but each fight delayed and weakened us. Both Fade and I were injured; if we took more wounds, the trip to Soldier’s Pond might take even longer.
Salvation doesn’t have much time.
My feet pounded the earth, sending up a spray of dust behind me. “I think we should push to reach Soldier’s Pond tonight.”
“I can,” Tegan said, “if that’s what you’re asking. My leg’s fine.”
It had been, and I was glad she wasn’t defensive about it. We had to be realistic about our capabilities. “Good. You’re surprisingly handy with my rifle. Keep it.”